At the Jac-Cen-Del School Board meeting held Monday, March 18 fifth grade student Logan Craig was recognized as the spelling champion who now holds the highest place in the school's history in the WCPO Spelling Bee in Cincinnati - fifth place.

Craig competed in February in Cincinnati, after winning the title from his school. He went on to the regional contest to make the school proud.

Other recognitions included:

Stacey Gray, elementary art teacher, spoke about the recent trip the 5th grade took to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis and how what they learned will be incorporated in their art class. She thanked Sue Bunselmeier and Marsha Bultman for donating the money to help pay for the trip.

The Soaring Eagle Award went to Brad Goldsberry for volunteering in both academics and athletics.

Congratulations went to David Bradshaw for winning the most games at JCD. Congratulations were also given to the JCD basketball team for winning the sectional and the first game at regional.

The JCD board was congratulated for achieving "outstanding" status.

Recognition was given to the Rube Goldberg Team who performed well in Wisconsin.

Current personnel additions inlude:

K. Marie Damron - teacher at the middle/high school for the 2013-2014 school year.

Jennifer Smith - teacher at the middle/high school for the 2013-2014 school year.

The board accepted an anonymous donation of $50.00 to the athletic department in the name of a kindergarten student at Sandy Hook Elementary (the school in Connecticut where several children were killed due to a single gunman) who loved soccer.

Dr. Phillippe reminded the board that the Annual School Report will be released soon by the Department of Education. Highlights of that report include:

Student numbers have been consistent over the school year with the student count being 874 in February.

Graduation rate has increased from 70.4% two years ago to 86.5% now. The state average is 87.1%. The hope is to continue to raise that figure until it is in the high 90% rate.

JCD continues to see some of the highest suspension and expulsion rates in Ripley County. JCD has begun a new program to address these concerns.

Intercession remediation numbers: (1) 7 students in grades 2-3; (2) 13 students in grades 4-5; (3) 13 jr./high students for language arts and math; (4) 15 ECA students for algebra; (5) 17 students for English for a total number of 65 students participating in the remediation program provided during the March Intercession week.

In other news, the following agenda items were discussed and/or approved:

The Southeastern Indiana Career Center calendar gives dates of all schools involved and Jac-Cen-Del aligns best with Southwestern. The only difference between JCD and SCC is that JCD plans to attend on Martin Luther King Day and SCC classes do not. JCD also gets out of school two days before SCC.

The Executive Technology Committee is moving forward on the 1:1 initiative for 2014-2015. This progress is reflected in the scheduled visit to Batesville on April 2, 2013, assignment of committees to help organize and ensure proper implementation, ongoing work on determining the forum for dispensing curriculum, and supporting the elementary school which is leaning toward Apple Projects, while continuing to research what will work for the high school.

The adoption of textbooks is not complete at this time.

JCD is still involved in PBL and requested a 2-3 day intensive training for staff, which was approved.

Approval given to support Scott Smith to host a basketball shooting clinic for students in grades 5 - 8 on May 24-25. The cost will be $25.00 per student to cover the cost of instructors.

The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Monday, April 15 at 6:00 p.m. in the JCD Elementary School library.

SCC works with area schools to boost graduation rates

Cindy WardStaff Writer

The Southeastern Career Center Board of Managers met in regular session on Monday, March 13, at the career center in Versailles.

SCC director Brad Street reported that due to a slight decrease in the graduation rates, he had to create an improvement plan for the Carl Perkins Grant that SCC currently receives. He said that everybody's scores went down in math and English. Street explained the plan procedures and asked for input from the board on how SCC and the home schools can collaborate on ways to engage students to help resolve the issue. Street said that even though graduation rates were slightly lower, SCC's graduation rate is very high compared to other schools. The board voted and unanimously passed the improvement plan.

With summer school approaching, Ally Swenson from the Indiana Virtual Academy came in to update board members on the services and summer programs they have available. Swenson passed out informative packets and gave a short talk. The Virtual Academy is a supplemental program that offers credit recovery opportunities to students. Swenson said that last summer there were 3,000 students enrolled out of 20 schools. The board commended Swenson and the academy on a job well done.

Street asked permission from the board to bring up building renovation at the next board meeting. He reported that the building has not been renovated since 1966. According to estimates that Street has gathered, he said each school will be responsible for approximately $88,000.00 for the renovation. He said that payments could be spread out over three or four years. Hendrix expressed concerns that his budget at Sunman-Dearborn Schools may not allow for such a cost. Street said he would put together some options for each school and bring them to the next meeting.

A school calendar for 2013-14 was unanimously approved. SCC will have a two-week fall break. The SCC teacher job description was presented for a second reading. Following some language changes, a motion was made and carried to approve the job description.

Two upcoming overnight field trips were approved. The first one was for the HOSA State Leadership Conference being held April 15-17. The other was for the Skills USA State Conference on April 19-20 at Walker Career Center. Both field trips are in Indianapolis.

Street expressed thanks to everyone for the many cards he received on the recent passing of his brother. With nothing further to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the SCC Board of Managers will be at 10 a.m., Tuesday, April 10, at the career center.

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